Floods in Sudan Damage Thousands of Homes

A woman walks along a flooded street in Khartoum after torrential rain fell on the Sudanese capital, almost paralising traffic, on August 8, 2021. (File/AFP)
A woman walks along a flooded street in Khartoum after torrential rain fell on the Sudanese capital, almost paralising traffic, on August 8, 2021. (File/AFP)
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Floods in Sudan Damage Thousands of Homes

A woman walks along a flooded street in Khartoum after torrential rain fell on the Sudanese capital, almost paralising traffic, on August 8, 2021. (File/AFP)
A woman walks along a flooded street in Khartoum after torrential rain fell on the Sudanese capital, almost paralising traffic, on August 8, 2021. (File/AFP)

Thousands of homes have been damaged in Sudan after torrential rains caused heavy flooding, with many streets in the capital Khartoum deep in water, AFP correspondents said Sunday.

Heavy rains usually fall in Sudan from June to October, and the country faces severe flooding every year, wrecking properties, infrastructure, and crops.

In Atbara, a city in Sudan’s north-east, the official news agency SUNA reported that a number of houses had “collapsed” due to the heavy rains.

On Thursday, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said some 12,000 people in eight out of the country’s 18 states had been affected.

“Over 800 homes have reportedly been destroyed and over 4,400 homes damaged,” the UN said.

Last year, heavy rains forced Sudan to declare a three-month state of emergency, after flooding affected at least 650,000 people, with over 110,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

In 2020, the Blue Nile — which joins the White Nile in the Sudanese capital Khartoum — floodwater swelled the river to its highest level since records began over a century ago.



Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Israel's army on Sunday confirmed it was calling up "tens of thousands" of reservists to expand its war in Gaza, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said.

"This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza," Zamir said in a statement, adding the army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, "both on the surface and underground.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said.
In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.
It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at the meeting.
Already in control of almost a third of Gaza's territory, Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Ministers have justified the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied. At the same time, Israel has faced warnings of famine in Gaza as supplies run low.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than UN agencies, in a new designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks.
New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday's security cabinet meeting, two officials said.
Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership and defense establishment for months. The military has pushed back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.